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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27272638">Birthday Proposal</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethiwen/pseuds/Ethiwen'>Ethiwen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:49:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,651</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27272638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethiwen/pseuds/Ethiwen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Athrun Zala's birthday and Cagalli wants to do something special for him. What will the blonde Goddess of Victory do? Oneshot</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cagalli Yula Athha/Athrun Zala</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Birthday Proposal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Happy birthday Athrun Zala, you fine (fictional) man =D This is my first AsuCaga centric fanfic since I started writing fanfiction again; it's been years lol. Many thanks to the facebook group AsuCaga Forever for starting this little "parade"; it got me to get off my butt and write an AsuCaga fanfic for once. I might bring back my dead fanfics I started writing years ago now. #asucagaforathrunbirthday &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sound of an alarm woke Cagalli from her slumber. She turned over angrily, pulling the covers over her head, hoping that the annoying sound would stop on its own. She groaned in annoyance.</p><p>“Will somebody please turn that annoying thing off?” she yelled, frustrated.</p><p>An amused chuckle was heard before the alarm stopped ringing. Cagalli sighed as she removed the covers from her head. She looked at her savior and smiled, grateful to him for ending that painful ordeal.</p><p>“Thanks, Athrun,” Cagalli said, “it was really annoying me.”</p><p>“I know,” Athrun casually said as he put on his ORB military overcoat.</p><p>Cagalli looked at him strangely. “How do you do it, Athrun? How do you get up so early every day? Does sleeping in even exist in your dictionary?”</p><p>He shrugged. “I guess it’s been drilled into me since my ZAFT military days.”</p><p>“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Cagalli replied.</p><p>Athrun chuckled again and bent down to give Cagalli a quick kiss before leaving their shared quarters. “I better go now; there’s a major project I have to oversee. I’m sure you’re aware of it.”</p><p>Cagalli nodded. “I guess I better get ready too. My alarm went off for a reason.”</p><p>“You’re the one that set it that early,” Athrun stated.</p><p>Cagalli stuck her tongue out at him, earning a chuckle from her blue-haired coordinator boyfriend.</p><p>Before opening the door to leave, Athrun turned around. “Do you think you’d have time to meet me for lunch?”</p><p>Cagalli mentally went through her schedule for the day. “I think so. Did you want to meet up in my office for lunch or did you want to go out?”</p><p>Athrun frowned at hearing having lunch in her office; it meant that she will likely be working instead of eating. He worried about her constantly as she tended to forget about eating when she was busy working.</p><p>“I was thinking of going out to eat,” he answered after a while, “I did discover a new kebab place I think you’d like.”</p><p>“A new kebab place, huh?” Cagalli mused aloud, “alright. I’m game. Maybe...come by my office after 12:30? I should be in there by then.”</p><p>Athrun nodded. “Okay, sounds good. I’ll see you then.”</p><p>He opened the door and disappeared behind it. Meanwhile, Cagalli still sat in their bed. Stretching, she finally decided it was time to get up. She glanced at the calendar on the wall and noticed it was October 29<sup>th</sup>. </p><p><em>“October 29<sup>th</sup> huh?” </em>Cagalli thought to herself. She knew today was a special day, but she couldn’t remember. Her eyes widened when she found the answer, <em>“it’s Athrun’s birthday today!”</em></p><p>She inwardly panicked; she had been so busy lately that his birthday had slipped her mind. Athrun had done so much for her after he returned to ORB; she felt guilty for all he had done and she didn’t even prepare a gift for him. Getting out of bed, she went to get herself ready for the upcoming day. She pondered over what she could get for him while brushing her teeth. But she knew getting him something was a quick fix to this problem, and it wasn’t enough compared to everything he had done for her over the past few years. Cagalli groaned as she splashed water on her face and then dried it off with a towel. An idea suddenly came to mind.</p><p>“<em>Why don’t I make him something...maybe a cake</em>,” she thought, “<em>a cake can’t be that hard...I’m sure Myrna can teach me. Maybe...I’ll make him dinner as well. We can have an evening together to celebrate his birthday.”</em></p><p>She blushed, embarrassed that she came up with such an idea. She concluded that being in love does strange things to people, making them do things that are outside their norm. Even though this was out of character for the blonde Goddess of Victory and leader of ORB, she felt that going this route was the best gift she could give to Athrun.</p><p>Going to her closet, she grabbed the usual attire she wore to all her cabinet meetings and put them on, while going through her schedule for the day to see if there was any free time she had to set her plan in motion. There were a few gaps in between meetings where she could see this work. And her last meeting was slated to end at 6:30 PM. She could have dinner ready by 7:30 or 8 PM. She smirked in triumph as she gave herself a final look in the mirror.</p><p>“Cagalli, you’re a genius,” she said proudly to her reflection before heading out to start her day.</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Her morning came and went and before she knew it, it was 12:30 PM. Cagalli headed to her office as quickly as possible, hoping she wouldn’t run into any cabinet ministers along the way. Upon entering her office, she found Athrun sitting comfortably on the sofa in her office reading a book; she had given him a key to her office when he was under the alias Alex Dino. Back then, they had to keep their relationship hidden, having secret rendezvous in her office whenever it was possible, besides their secretly shared bedroom at the time. Now that the world was slowly resuming some form of normalcy and was becoming more accepting of one another, they didn’t have to hide their relationship anymore. ORB was now more or less familiar with their relationship. It did cause quite the commotion when the country had first found out about their relationship, but now, everyone saw it as some form of hope between Coodinators and Naturals. She smiled.</p><p>“Been waiting long?” Cagalli asked as she sat down beside him.</p><p>He closed the book and placed it on the table. “Not too long. You ready to head out?”</p><p>“Almost, just need to get out of this representative outfit,” she replied, “I see you’re already set to go.”</p><p>Cagalli noticed that he was no longer in his ORB military uniform; Athrun wore a red thin sweater, with a white dress shirt underneath. He donned a pair of beige colored pants and a pair of casual black and white sneakers. She raised a curious eyebrow at him.</p><p>“This is different for you,” she said.</p><p>“Yeah...I thought I’d try something different,” Athrun replied, “should I change?”</p><p>Cagalli shook her head. “You look fine Athrun. Besides, there isn’t time for that. You and I both still have meetings to attend to after lunch.”</p><p>“You’re right. Well, you go and get yourself ready. I’ll be here.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>She got off the sofa and went to the changing room within her office. Going through the available outfits she had in the room, she settled on a light brown knee-length skirt that had a small slit up the middle and a medium green sleeveless top. She threw a yellow sweatshirt over her shoulders, tying the sleeves together to hold it in place. Putting on a pair of white tennis sneakers, Cagalli checked herself in the mirror before stepping out of the change room.</p><p>“Alright, I’m ready to go Athrun,” Cagalli said as she left the change room.</p><p> Athrun looked up from his book. “Well, this is different for you.”</p><p>“What’s wrong with trying something different?” Cagalli retorted.</p><p>Athrun laughed as he set his book back down and got up from the sofa. He grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers in between hers.</p><p>“Shall we, my princess?” Athrun asked in a teasing tone.</p><p>Cagalli gave him a glare at first, but then her eyes softened. “We shall.”</p><p>Athrun smiled and gave Cagalli a quick peck on the lips before stepping out of her office. After he locked the door, he placed an arm around Cagalli’s waist as he led her outside to his parked vehicle. Once they were both inside the car, Athrun started the engine and drove to their destination.</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Athrun and Cagalli returned to her office an hour later. They quickly changed back into their previous outfits and shared a chaste kiss before parting ways once again; Athrun had a meeting with Kisaka and the other security personnel and Cagalli had another meeting to get to. Both were hesitant to part ways after having such a wonderful afternoon together, even though it was a short-lived one. But, given their respective positions within ORB, they knew they had important responsibilities to tend to first. It will be a while before they can relax and be together more; the world was still recovering from the previous two wars and stability was a ways away.</p><p>“I’ll see you tonight, Cagalli,” Athrun said and smiled.</p><p>Cagalli nodded. “What time do you think you’ll be back?”</p><p>“I think after 8 PM,” he answered.</p><p>“Alright, I’ll save some dinner for you,” Cagalli said and smiled.</p><p>“That’s right…you actually have a short day today,” Athrun said as he remembered that Cagalli’s last meeting was to end at 6:30 PM, “you should take it easy tonight. You’ve certainly earned yourself that.”</p><p>“I’ll try, but no promises Athrun,” Cagalli said and winked, “you know how I am.”</p><p>He laughed. “Well, try to at least.”</p><p>“Alright.”</p><p>Athrun gave her a quick peck on the cheek before he stepped out of her office. Cagalli glanced at the clock on the wall. There was still an hour and a half until her next meeting; she’s already done all the paperwork for today as well, so she had some free time to spare.</p><p><em>“Maybe I’ll go find Myrna,” </em>she thought to herself.</p><p>She proceeded to leave her office to find her handmaid and friend. Just as she was about to open the door, the woman she was going to find happened to be standing in front of her office door.</p><p>“Myrna!” Cagalli said, surprised to find the very woman on her mind in front of her, “what are you doing here?”</p><p>“I came to see if you had eaten lunch yet,” Myrna answered and winked, “but I have a feeling I was worried over nothing.”</p><p>Cagalli blushed and looked down. Myrna was one of the few that knew about her relationship with Athrun when they had first got together and one of the strongest supporters of it was well; she was ecstatic when Athrun returned to ORB to be by Cagalli’s side.</p><p>“Anyways, I’ll let you get back to what you were doing,” Myrna said as she turned around to leave.</p><p>“M-Myrna, wait!” Cagalli called, making the older woman turn around.</p><p>“What is it, Miss Cagalli?” Myrna asked.</p><p>Cagalli looked down shyly. “I...I was wondering...if you could...teach me how to make a cake...”</p><p>Myrna raised her eyebrows in amusement. “May I ask <em>why</em> you want to make a cake?”</p><p>If it was possible, Cagalli felt her cheeks heat up even more. She looked at her long-time friend.</p><p>“I...want to make a cake for Athrun...” Cagalli said shyly, “It’s...it’s his birthday today...”</p><p>Myrna smiled warmly at the young woman, whom she had taken care of since she was a little girl. It was the first time she had seen Cagalli act like a woman. She’s always been a tomboy, but ever since she had met Athrun Zala, her feminine side was slowly showing. She grabbed Cagalli’s hands into her own.</p><p>“Of course, Cagalli dear,” Myrna said, “do you have some time now to accompany me to the kitchen?”</p><p>Cagalli broke into a huge grin. “Thank you, Myrna. I do have some free time. I have an hour and a half before my next meeting. I already did all the necessary paperwork for today as well, so there’s not much left for me to do for once.”</p><p>Myrna nodded. “Alright, then let’s get to it. We can worry about the decorating after the cake is made.”</p><p>Cagalli left her office and followed Myrna to the kitchen. Luckily, her home wasn't far away from where she had to perform her duties as ORB’s chief representative.</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Cagalli in an apron was quite a sight to see; Myrna wished she could have taken a picture. She was sure Athrun would have loved to see it as well. She placed all the ingredients they needed for the cake on the counter in front of them. Cagalli looked at all the ingredients and tools in trepidation; she didn’t think making a cake would be this complicated. She was glad she had asked Myrna for help; if she had attempted to follow a recipe on her own, she would have been so lost and maybe would have gone through many cakes before making one that would be deemed edible. Myrna placed a big mixing bowl in front of Cagalli.</p><p>“First measure out one and a half cups of flour,” Myrna instructed as she handed Cagalli a sifter, “and use this sifter to sift the flour into the bowl.”</p><p>“Why can’t I just dump the cups of flour into the bowl?” Cagalli asked.</p><p>“Because the cake will not be light and fluffy,” Myrna simply replied, “a good cake comes with great effort. No short cuts.”</p><p>“Okay,” Cagalli said, “I will give this my all.”</p><p>She followed Myrna's instructions perfectly; Cagalli devoted all her energy and attention to making this cake. There were no room for mistakes, not today. She knew she was on a time constraint and given her schedule, there would be no time to do it again. And she wanted to do this herself. Even though she had Myrna guiding her, she didn’t intervene and let Cagalli do all the work.</p><p>“Wonderful Miss Cagalli!” Myrna said proudly after she poured the cake batter into the cake pan.</p><p>The oven was already pre-heated and was waiting for Cagalli to place her creation in it. Setting the timer for 30 minutes, Cagalli sat down and heaved a sigh of relief. She was done one part of her birthday plan. Myrna brought a glass of juice to Cagalli, in which the blonde happily took. She glanced at the clock nearby; her next meeting was due to start soon. Sensing Cagalli's apprehension, her handmaid knew what she was worried about.</p><p>“Don’t worry, Miss Cagalli,” Myrna said, “I’ll take out the cake when it’s done baking. We’ll let it cool and then you can decorate it.”</p><p>“Thanks, Myrna,” Cagalli said, “for everything.”</p><p>Myrna smiled. “It was my pleasure. Will you have time to decorate it?”</p><p>Cagalli double checked her schedule in her head. The next meeting was about an hour long, which should be enough time for the cake to settle and cool. She knew she’d have to make the icing from scratch too.</p><p>“I think so,” Cagalli said after a moment, “I do have another hour in between my last two meetings for the day. I’ll come back here and decorate it.”</p><p>“Okay. You best be going now. A representative shouldn’t be late.”</p><p>Cagalli nodded. “I’ll see you here in an hour or so.”</p><p>Myrna nodded and Cagalli got up and left the kitchen, hanging up her apron along the way.</p><p>On her way to her meeting, Cagalli couldn’t help but chuckle; her first attempt at baking a cake was going so smoothly. She made a mental note to give Myrna some well-deserved time off, maybe an all-expenses paid vacation was in order.</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>When the meeting was over, Cagalli immediately rushed back to the kitchen. She needed to get this cake done before her final and last meeting. She still had to decide what to make for dinner and she needed time to make whatever dinner she felt was perfect for this occasion. She spotted Myrna in the kitchen setting up supplies for cake decorating.</p><p>“Hey Myrna, how did the cake turn out?” she asked as she put on her apron.</p><p>Myrna pulled it out from the cooler and placed it on the table. Cagalli’s eyes widened; her cake turned out really well; she almost wanted to eat it.</p><p>“You ready to start decorating?” Myrna asked.</p><p>Cagalli nodded and Myrna began guiding her on how to make homemade icing. When the icing was done, Myrna instructed her on how to delicately and evenly spread the icing all over the cake. Cagalli slowly and carefully spread the white icing all over the cake. When she was done, she added a little food coloring to the remaining icing. Using the colored icing, she placed dots and swirls on the cake before finishing the cake off with some colorful sprinkles.</p><p>“What a beautiful cake, Miss Cagalli,” Myrna said in awe after Cagalli put the finishing touches to the cake, “you did very well for your first attempt.”</p><p>“I had a wonderful teacher helping me,” Cagalli said and smiled.</p><p>Myrna smiled. Her cake just needed one more thing. She went to a drawer and pulled out a candle. It was a candle with a large plaque that had the words “happy birthday” written across it. She handed it to Cagalli.</p><p>“There, your cake is complete. I’m sure Master Athrun will love it,” Myrna said.</p><p>“Thank you, Myrna,” Cagalli said as she placed the completed cake in the refrigerator.</p><p>“And just in time too,” Myrna said after glancing at the clock, “your next meeting will be starting soon.”</p><p>Cagalli gasped. “You’re right! I better get going. Thank you again for your help and guidance, Myrna!”</p><p>“Anytime!” Myrna shouted as Cagalli dashed out of the kitchen.</p><p>She sighed dreamily. “Ah, to be young and in love again…”</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>The last meeting was a slow one. She kept glancing at the clock impatiently. When the meeting was finally over, Cagalli signed the last of the papers and thanked everyone for their hard work. She left the conference room as quickly as she could; she didn’t want to be held back by more questions from the cabinet ministers. When she got home, she went to the fridge to see what she had. She saw her beautiful cake and smirked proudly. She truly was the goddess of victory, not just in battles, but also in her first attempt at cake making. She briefly got sidetracked over her successful cake making attempt, that she almost forgot why she was in the fridge in the first place. She glanced at the items she had in the fridge; she had chicken breasts, zucchini, mushrooms and spinach. Cagalli closed the fridge and thought about what she could make with those items.</p><p>“Maybe a pasta dish?” she asked aloud.</p><p>She went to the pantry to see if she had any pasta and pasta sauce; there was no time to make a sauce from scratch, nor did she have any idea on how to do that. She found some spaghetti and an alfredo sauce. Cagalli pulled those items from the pantry and grinned excitedly; Athrun was going to be in for a surprise.</p><p>Going back to the fridge, she took out the chicken breasts, mushrooms, zucchini and spinach. She heated up a frying pan and placed the chicken breasts on it, slowly frying it while she prepared the vegetables. She winced in pain and stopped what she was doing. Glancing at her finger, she had accidentally nicked it as she was slicing the zucchini. Cagalli washed her hands and looked for a first aid kit. She managed to find one in the cupboard by the fridge and grabbed a bandage from it. After she bandaged her wound, she went back to preparing the vegetables. When she was done with the vegetables, she went back to the frying pan to flip the chicken. She threw in some spices, being careful not to overdo it as she knew Athrun was not particularly fond of spicy food. She grabbed another pot and added water to it before placing it on the stove. She waited for it to boil while ensuring the chicken was cooking nicely. Once the water boiled, she placed the spaghetti noodles in the pot and covered it, stirring it here and there to ensure they did not stick to the bottom of the pot. The chicken was done cooking and she removed it from the pan, placing the meat on a cutting board. She began cutting the chicken breasts into nice bite sized chunks. When she was done, she went to check on the spaghetti. Carefully grabbing a noodle with a fork, she placed it in her mouth to see if the noodles needed more time or if it was done. And it was done. The noodles and chicken were done and the vegetables were ready. She strained the spaghetti into a bowl and placed the pot back onto the stovetop; she added the alfredo sauce into the pot and waited for it to simmer. She then added the chicken and vegetables to the sauce. When the vegetables looked like they were nearly cooked, Cagalli added the spaghetti into the mix and gave it a good stir. After the pasta had warmed up thoroughly, she removed it from the stove and placed her dinner onto two plates. She placed utensils on each side of the plates before grabbing two champagne flutes from the cupboard. Athrun had picked up a nice bottle of champagne weeks ago for the two of them, but there wasn’t any time for them to sit down and enjoy a drink together. Today was a perfect day to crack open the bottle. Cagalli poured champagne into each of the flutes, when Athrun walked in.</p><p>“Oh, you’re back?” Cagalli asked as she placed the champagne into a bucket of ice.</p><p>“Yeah…I came back early,” Athrun said as he looked at Cagalli curiously, “what are you doing…?”      </p><p>“Oh, I made us some dinner,” Cagalli casually answered, “come and take a seat. You must be hungry.”</p><p>Athrun nodded as he sat down. “This is the first time I’ve seen you cook…what’s the occasion?”</p><p>Cagalli looked at her boyfriend incredulously. “You mean, you don’t know what today is?”</p><p>Athrun shook his head. Cagalli giggled.</p><p>“It’s your birthday, silly,” she answered and she picked up her champagne flute, holding it up for a toast, “happy birthday, Athrun.”</p><p>He blinked a few times before he looked away sheepishly. “I forgot about my birthday actually…”</p><p>Once he regained his composure, he picked up his champagne glass and clinked Cagalli’s glass. He took a sip of the champagne, savoring the taste before he placed the glass down. He glanced at the bottle in the ice bucket on the table.</p><p>“That’s the champagne I picked up for us…”</p><p>Cagalli glanced at the bucket. “Yeah, I thought it’d be a good time to drink it.”</p><p>Athrun chuckled. “I suppose it is.”</p><p>Cagalli smiled. “Well, let’s dig in!”</p><p>The two began eating their dinner. Athrun was surprised with how good her food tasted; it was his first time eating something that Cagalli had made herself. Given how Cagalli’s personality was, he didn’t expect her to know how to cook. He wanted to ask, but he was afraid of offending her. However, Cagalli read his mind.</p><p>“I had cooking lessons when I was younger okay?” she stated, “my father had forced me to do it…something about being good wife material…and well, I’m glad he did.”  </p><p>“I see,” Athrun replied, “well, this tastes amazing, Cagalli. Thank you.”</p><p>Cagalli smiled and continued eating her dinner. When they finished, Cagalli got up and grabbed their dishes. When Athrun handed her his plate, he saw a bandage on her finger and frowned. Cagalli was wondering why Athrun wasn’t giving her his plate; she glanced down and followed his line of sight.</p><p>“Oh this?” she asked as she took his plate from his hand, “it’s nothing. Just a little knife cut from when I was cutting the zucchini.”</p><p>She placed the dishes in the sink and grabbed two more plates from the cupboard.</p><p>“Hey,” Cagalli said as she placed the two plates down, “close your eyes.”</p><p>Athrun looked at her confused, but complied and closed his eyes. After Cagalli ensured his eyes were closed, she went to the refrigerator and took out the cake. Grabbing the candle Myrna had given her, she placed it into the cake and lit it up. She placed the cake down in front of Athrun.</p><p>“Okay, you can open your eyes.”</p><p>He opened his eyes, which widened in surprise. He looked at the cake and then at Cagalli.</p><p>“Did…did you make this?” he asked.</p><p>Cagalli blushed. “Well yeah…kind of…Myrna was guiding me, but I did do it all myself.”</p><p>Athrun smiled. His heart fluttered at Cagalli’s gestures. He knew for certain that he wanted a life with her in it.</p><p>“Well, make a wish,” Cagalli said impatiently, “the candle wax is going to ruin the cake.”</p><p>“O-Oh, right…” Athrun said, snapping back to reality.</p><p>He closed his eyes and made a wish. <em>“I wish Cagalli and I can spend the rest of our lives together.”</em></p><p>Athrun blew out the candle, earning an applause from Cagalli.</p><p>“Happy birthday hamster brain!” she cheered.</p><p>He looked at her, feigning offence, but then smiled. He got up from his seat and wrapped her in an embrace. Cagalli blushed lightly at the sudden contact before wrapping her arms around him.</p><p>“Thank you, Cagalli, for doing all this for me,” he said before releasing her from his arms.</p><p>He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. Cagalli looked at the box curiously and then at him.</p><p>“I know there’s still a lot of work to do before we can have the life we want, but there’s nothing more that I want than to do it together with you by my side,” Athrun said as he knelt down on one knee and opened the box.</p><p>Cagalli gasped in surprise at his sudden action and was even more surprised with what was in the box. It was a beautiful diamond ring, with little pink stones embedded in between each little diamond. The pink stones resembled the Haumea stone she once had.</p><p>“I know I’ve made mistakes in the past, but this time, I am on the right path.” he continued, “Cagalli Yula Athha, will you give this hamster brain the honor and marry me?”</p><p>Cagalli reached up and grabbed the necklace she had under her shirt. On it, was the ring Athrun had given her before he left for PLANTs. Her eyes glazed over, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.</p><p>“Yes,” she said in a quiet voice. It was all she was able to say after his sudden proposal.</p><p>Athrun smiled as he placed the ring on her left ring finger. He stood back up and pulled Cagalli into another hug, with Cagalli wrapping her arms tightly around her now fiancé.</p><p>“You know…you aren’t supposed to give someone a gift on your very own birthday…” she murmured into his shoulder.</p><p>Athrun chuckled. “Well, your answer is the best gift I could have ever received on my birthday, including the dinner and cake.”</p><p>Cagalli laughed. “You still need to learn when the right time to give a woman a ring is.”</p><p>“There isn’t a need to learn that anymore,” Athrun said, hinting at the ring that was now on Cagalli’s finger.</p><p>Yeah…I guess you’re right,” Cagalli agreed.</p><p>They pulled apart and Athrun seized her lips with his own, with Cagalli returning the kiss with equal fervor.</p><p>“Happy birthday, Athrun,” Cagalli said once they pulled apart, “I love you.”</p><p>“I love you too,” Athrun replied, “you want to finish the champagne tonight?”</p><p>“Yes! I could so use some unwinding time tonight,” Cagalli said and laughed.</p><p>Athrun poured two more glasses for them and handed one to Cagalli. They sat back down at the table and Athrun cut a slice of cake for each of them. The now engaged couple chatted amongst themselves while enjoying Cagalli’s homemade cake and champagne, in which both agreed was the perfect way to end Athrun’s birthday.</p>
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